ORIGIN OF LINEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 December 1939, Page 8

ORIGIN OF LINEN

AN INTERESTING LEGEND. The story of linen is one of romance. It is an article of great importance both from its commercial value and its beauty and durability, which cannot be equalled by any other fabric. Its absorbent quality is shown by its use in surgical dressings, its strength by its use in aeroplane yarns. In the linen-growing countries of the world there is a delightful legend as to the origin of this product. There was a shepherd who daily left his wife and children in the valley while he took his sheep up the mountain to pasture. As he watched his flock grazing on the mountainside he often used his bow and arrow to bring down chamois, whose flesh would furnish his larder. One day he saw a magnificent animal and set off hot-foot on the chase. Higher and higher climbed the stag, and the shepherd, not to be daunted, followed as fast as his legs would carry him. At last, at the very top .of the mountain, he found, to his dismay, that the stag had disappeared. Now, as it was growing late, he looked about for a place to spend the night, and. spying a cleft between two boulders, he crawled in. To his amazement, he found himself in a beautifully jewelled cave, in the middle of which stood a magnificent woman carrying a posy of tiny blue and white flowers. The shepherd fell on his knees, and as in a dream, heard the vision tell him to choose anything he wished to take away with him. His eyes, being transfixed on the posy of flowers, he timidly asked that it might be his. The goddess was very pleased with his choice, and also gave him a measure of seed and told him to return home and sow it.

When the peasant returned home and told his wife what had happened she was naturally very upset and reproached him bitterly for not choosing precious stones; nevertheless, the man proceeded to sow the seeds, and it was not long before tiny green shoots began to peep out of the ground, and in turn millions of wee blue and white flowers opened their calyxes to the sun.

Then the goddess came again and taught the peasant and his wife how to harvest the flax and from it spin and weave linen, and, as the people from the neighbouring villages willingly bought the cloth the peasant became very wealthy. As the years rolled on. the children were taught the art of linen manufacture, and so it was handed down from generation to generation. PRIMARY TREATMENT. So concludes our story, and. now wc come to our earliest reference to linen, which is in that passage in the Bible referring to the plagues in Egypt. “The flax and the barley were smitten, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was boiled.” We know from this that linen was manufactured in those days, and we have as further proof the very fine, well-made linen wrappings of the mummies which can be seen in every museum in the world. Nowadays linent is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. Its manufacture is an art, and the study of a lifetime job. Linen comes from the flax seed, and there are two kinds—the white flower which gives linseed oil and oil cake, and the blue-flowered variety which gives linen. A linen field is divided into five sections, and the crops are rotary, i.e„ wheat, barley, maize, potatoes, and flax, and next year we will have barley where the wheat was. maize where the barley was, and so on. Before it becommes linen as we know it, it is passed through seven different processes. The flax is harvested before it is properly ripe, and tied into bundles which are steeped in stagnant pools. This process js called “retting,” and loosens the outer covering from the pithy centre. It emerges under rhe name of “tow,” and passes to the scutching machine to be beaten free of all straw and sheaf under the name of “dressed linen.” It is carried to the hackling machine and drawn into long strands known as “silver.” In turn, the silver is spun into "yarn," which is then woven into “fabric.” and either "bleached” or “beetled." Although linen is a vegetable product, it has animal characteristics. It can, and does, get tired. Give it a rest occasionally, and put it away for a few weeks. When you take it out again you will find it has taken on a darkish appearance. This is only the linseed oil coming to the surface, and if you wash the article and put it out in the dew you will find it will be as good as new again. Linen being the oldest fabric in the world, it is only fitting that from it the art of lace-making was evolved and later perfected as the artistic sense improved. About the thirteenth century garments began to be slit and cut out in

patterns and the slits were bound round with gold and silver thread. Later coloured threads were used, leaf designs, squares, and points were introduced, but no mention of lacing was made until a much later period. LACE MAKING. Then someone conceived the bright idea of cutting away, the material from behind the embroidery, leaving openwork spaces. The originator saw this was good and filled in the spaces with threads of needlework. Coarse linen was used for this cut-out work, elaborate patterns were worked, and then the material cut away in the same way as Venetian cut work is done today. Later fine lawn was used and new stitches tried; then threads were drawn out, and so began a new type of handwork. The next step in lace-making was a distinct departure from cut-out work in having no foundation material on which to be worked, the outline being button-holed bars known as '•brides." This, the first actual lace, was worked over a pattern clearly drawn on parchment. Although France and Italy claim the birthplace of lace, the Dutch were quick to copy the designs and surpass them in quality. They transplanted flax from its native home. Egypt, to their own soil, and so the art of lace-making gradually crept from one country to another.